Control means for the number printing mechanism of a calculating device for an office machine



W. BECKER March 7, 1961 2,973,708 OF A CONTROL MEANS FOR THE NUMBERPRINTING MECHANISM CALCULATING DEVICE FOR AN OFFICE MACHINE Filed Jan.29, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I'm entan- W 2 y Bea/fer W. BECKER March 7,1961 2,973,708

I NUMBER PRINTING MECHANISM 0 ICE FOR AN OFFICE MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2CONTROL MEANS FOR THE CALCULATING DEV Filed Jan. 29. 1958 rn emon' W i 22 Becker Atty- March 7, 1961 BECKER 2,973,708

CONTROL MEANS FOR THE NUMBER PRINTING MECHANISM OF A CALCULATING DEVICEFOR AN OFFICE MACHINE Filed Jan. 29, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 .lm/emon'WZZZy Be ker nited States Patent CONTROL MEANS FOR THE NUMBER PRINTINGMECHANISM OF A CALCULATING DEVICE FOR AN OFFICE MACHINE Willy Becker,Dusseldorf, Germany, assignor to Rheinmetal! Aktiengesellschaft,Dusseldorf, Germany Filed Jan. 29, 1958, Ser. No. 711,840

3 Claims. (Cl. 101-95) This invention relates to control means for thenumber printing mechanism of a calculating device for an 'mechanism isperforming part of its normal function.

An important advantage of the present invention is that there is asaving in time as the printing of the digits is effected during the timenormally taken by the ma chine for carryingout otherfoperations, and'further as the digits are not printed simultaneously there is aconsiderable reduction in noise which is beneficial; to the user of themachine. H t

According to the present invention control means for a number printingmechanism of a. calculating device of an oflice machine comprises aseries of reciprocablyjv mounted bars, a corresponding series ofprinting devices having means for-printing figures, each printing devicebeing operable by one of the bars to dispose a selected figure. inprinting" position, a reciprocably mounted slider for imparting apredetermined sliding movement to each bar equivalent to the value ofone fig-1 me of a number calculated by saidcalculating device, andmeansifor' actuating each printing device to print the selected figureof the number when its associated bar has completed saidpredeterminedsliding movement.

The said bars are moved, by sliders themselves movable through adistancegreater than the maximum length of. travel of the bars, the.arrangement. being such. that as the sliders move,,each bar movesa.distance corre responding to the figure ityistoprint whereupon, it isstopped in known manner .and the continued movement of the sliderscontrols the operation of anarm carrying a' printing wheel. so that thelatteris actuated to print the selected figure. The sliders on theirreturn to their original position reset the. control: mechanism readyfor the next operation] a The arrangement is such that when a bar ishalted the continued movement of sliders trips a catch, whereupon asystem of levers: releases .an arm carrying the printing wheel allowingit toprint the appropriate figure on a surface. V r 3 The arm carryingthe printing wheel may be-pivoted' and be urged into printing positionby a spring which is loaded before the'start to move. The variousfigures of the calculated number will be printed separately immediatelythe respective barshave completed their movement, and accordingly ,theprinting will-be effected step by. step*"du1'ing. -thel operation of thetherewill result a;reduction; in thenoise of operation due to the"effect of fsp'aced individual printing ofthe 2 figures as compared withthe simultaneous printing of all the figures.

In the case of a calculated number having one or more figures of thesame value, for example the number 15524. The figures of the same value,in this case 5, will normally be printed simultaneously but as suchnumbers will not normally occur very frequently there will be no greatdisadvantage. In the case of figures having a series of zeros which mayoccur more frequently, provision is made for the zeros to be printedsuccessively but in rapid sequence.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side view of control mechanism according to oneembodiment of the invention, the parts being shown in the inoperativeposition; v

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the control mechanism immediately after afigure has been printed, and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the control mechanism, the parts beingshown in the inoperative position.

It will be understood that each position in the number to be calculatedand printed has its own control mechanism, these mechanisms beingmounted side by side between two parallel sliders which are connected bytwo parallel rods. For the sake of clarity only one of the controlmechanisms is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

As shown, a calculating rack 1 is able to slide, to and fro on squarebars 2 and 3 which extend through rectangular slots in the calculatingrack. Two parallel sliders 4 are provided which are able to move in thedirections indicated by the arrow 4a, and are also mounted on the squarebars 2 and 3 which extend through rectangular slots in the sliders. ,Thesliders 4 are connected to one another by two parallel rods 5 and 6, andalso by a plate 7 which guides part of the mechanism yet tobe described.The sliders 4, rods 5, 6

and plate 7 form a unit which is guided into its to and fro movements byslotted plates 3, one of which is shown. Acatch 9 is mounted on the rod6 and has a recess 10 for engagement by a projection 11 depending fromthe rack 1.

The calculating rack 1 has a row of teeth 12 at the end further from itsrectangular slots, the teeth meshing with a gear wheel 13'which isadapted to rotate the gear 7 16A of a printing wheel 16 through theintermediary of gears 14, 15. The wheel 16 has. the raised numerals 0 to9 on a section of its circumference.

A spring 17 is secured between the lower end of an arm 18 pivoted at 18Atoa bracket 19. The printing wheel 16 and gear 15ers mounted on anextension of the arm18.

A cam 20 operates on a lever 21 pivoted at 34A, and

is connected to a stud 21B on aplate 19B. The plate 13B is able torotate about the pivot 18A in the direction indicated by arrow 22, andhas a projection 19A engageable with the arm 18.

The upper end of the arm 18 has a jaw 23 with which a bent web 24011 theend of a lever 25 is adapted to engage.

The gear wheel 14 has a cam 26 which on a predeterminedrotation of thegear wheel 14 moves a lever 27 mouted on a' rotatable rod 275, the cam26 rotating the lever against the'action of a spring 27a. Lever 27 alsohas a projection 27C at its upper end which engages in a projection onthe upper end'of the arm 18.

q There is also aprojecticn 28 on the lower end of lever 27 whichengages the adjacent control mechanism. Pivoted on the rod 5 is alever29, ,to one end of which is attached a spring 28a anchored on the'plate7. The

7 spring 28a serves to hold the lever 29 against the underside of thecatch 9 which rests in one of two grooves 9A, 9B in the upper surface ofthe lever. The end of the lever 29 opposite to that having the'springhas a lateral projection 29B, which is adapted to make contact with onearm 30 of the lever 25 which is mounted on the rod 27B.

A three armed lever 31 is pivoted at 31C, one arm 31' being adapted toengage a notch 31A in the upper edge of lever 25 under the action of aspring 313. The arm 31 of the lever 31 is so positioned that on rotationof the lever it will engage between the teeth of gear wheel 14 for apurpose to be described. The arm 31 of the lever extends under theadjacent end of another lever 35.

An arm 32 is pivoted on the arm 18 about 32A and has a nose 328 whichcan engage between the teeth on the printing wheels 16, but is normallyheld away from the teeth by the bent web 24. When in contact with theteeth, it is held there by a cam surface 33.

A bell-crank lever 34 is pivoted at 34A, one arm carrying a followerengageable with a cam 34B, the other arm having a stud 34C for engagingthe arm 31 of lever 31. v

The nose 35B of the lever 35 is normally held in contact with the rack'37 on the calculating rack 1 by a by the parallel sliders 4 moving fromtheir normal position to the full extent of their travel and returningagain to their normal position.

The extent of travel of each individual calculating rack 1 is limited byknown means according to the particular figure which its controllingmechanism is to record. This limitation is provided by adjustable stopscontrolled by the calculator itself. It is arranged, however, that theextent of travel of the parallel sliders 4 is greater than the maximumtravel of the calculating racks, as this is necessary for the fullaction of the controlling mechanisms.

Before the sliders 4- commence their travel, a cam 20 moves the lever 21in an anti-clockwise direction which in turn moves the plate 19B in aclockwise direction, tensioning the spring 17. The arm 18 tends to movein a clockwise direction but is prevented from doing so by theprojection 27C and the bent web 24.

As the parallel sliders 4 commence their operative travel, from right toleft in the drawings, the connection provided by the catch 9 effects acorresponding movement of the calculating rack 1, and the teeth 12rotate the wheel 13 and through the gear wheels 14 and 15 rotate theprinting wheel 16. The figures on the circumference of the wheel 16 arearranged in the order 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and when the printingwheel has been rotated to the Fig. 1 position the cam 26 moves the lever27 against the spring 27A thus disengaging the projection 27C from theupper end of the arm 18. Also the projection 28 at the lower end oflever 27 actuates in known manner the lever 27 on the adjacent mechanismcontrolling the next lower unit in the number to be printed, and thussuccessively all the levers 27 on the mechanisms controlling the lowerunits in the number to be printed are actuated.

In the accompanying drawings, the mechanism is shown in the process ofprinting the figure 2.

When the calculating rack has moved a distance corresponding to therequired -figure,.its moticnis automatically stopped in known manner asmentioned above, so

4 that as the sliders 4 however continue to move, the projection 11 isbrought against 'the right hand side of the recess 10 and rotates thecatch 9 in a clockwise direction.

The catch 9 forces the lever 29 down against the spring 28a, whereuponthe lateral projection 29B contacts the arm 30 pushing it down, thenraising the bent web 24.

This bent web pushes the plate 32 into contact with the teeth of thewheel 16 to hold it against further rotation. As the bent Web 24continues to rise, it moves clear of the jaw 23 allowing the arm 18 tomove in a clockwise direction under the force of spring 17, and theprinting wheel 16 which is mounted on the arm 18 is moved into contactwith the platen roller P to print the selected figure.

The sliders 4 move on to the full extent of their travel so that all thecontrolling mechanisms are actuated.

The return movement of the calculating rack 1 is prevented by the nose35B of lever 35 engaging in the teeth 37.

Each controlling mechanism is released in order of magnitude of thefigures which it is adjusted to print, i.e. Os will be printed first and9s last, since the lower the figure the less distance the calculatingrack 1 has to travel.

For example, in printing the number 157.25 the order of printing will beas follows:

(a) Controlling mechanims five from the right 1.

(b) Controlling mechanism two 2.

(c) Controlling mechanisms four and one .5 5

(d) Controlling'mechanism three .7.

As the sliders 4 start on their return journey, the cam 34B moves thelever 34 in an anticlockwise direction, which in turn moves the lever 31in a clockwise direction. The arm 31 of lever 31 rotates lever 35 todisplace the nose 35B from the teeth 37 on the underside of thecalculating rack 1, and the arm 31" is disengaged from the gear wheel14. Similarly the cam 20 allows the lever 21 to rotate clockwise about21A to move the arm 18 in an anti-clockwise direction to retract theprinting wheel to its previous position.

As the sliders 4 continue their return journey, the catch 9 is movedanti-clockwise allowing the projection 11 on the underside of thecalculating rack 1 to fall into the recess 10, and also allowing thelever 29 to rise, releasing the arm 30 of the lever 25, so that the bentweb 24 again secures the arm 18 and the catch 32.

The cam 34B is now positioned to actuate the lever 34 into the positionshown in Fig. l, and cam 20 moves to re-tension the spring 17, thus thecontrolling mechanism is ready for the next operation.

All identical figures in the number are printed simultaneously, but as asuccession of the same figures in the range 1-9 will not occur veryfrequently there is no disadvantage in this. A succession of zeros suchas 100,000 may occur more frequently and a modification is provided inthe mechanism to ensure that the printing of a succession of zeros isstaggered. This modification comprises the sloping surfaces 36 on thearms 30. When a 0 is printed the contact of the lateral extension 29B onthe arm 30 is arranged to be at the point 36 which is placed furthertowards the end of the arm 30 on each successive controlling mechanism,so that if Os are to be printed, the mechanisms are actuatedsuccessively and not simultaneously.

I claim:

1. Control means for the number printing mechanism of a calculatingdevice of an otfice machine, comprising a series of reciprocably mountedbars, a corresponding series of printing devices having means forprinting figures, each printing device being operable by one of the barsto dispose a selected figure in printing position, a'

calculating device, a rocking arm connecting each rack with itsassociated slider and means operable by rocking movement of said arms onthe completion of said predetermined sliding movement of the racks toefiect the operation of the printing devices to print the selectedfigure.

2. Control means according to claim 1 wherein operation of the printingdevices is controlled by lever means operated by the rocking movement ofsaid rocking arms.

3. Control means according to claim 1 wherein operation of the printingdevices is controlled by lever means operated by the rocking movement ofsaid rocking arms, and in which the lever means for each rack includes alever having a sloping face, the levers being arranged so that slopingsurfaces of the respective levers are in side by side relation and arestaggered in the longitudinal direction of the racks. 1

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,121,826 Greve Dec. 22, 1914 2,019,901 Furman -2 Nov. 5, 1935 2,433,679Williams Dec. 30, 1947 2,629,549 Butler Feb. 24, 1953 2,824,513 JohnsonFeb. 25, 1958 2.834289 Haberkom May 13, 1958

